Data security is becoming more important with the exponential growth of data that is stored by various means, such as magnetic and optical data storage. Data encryption provides a user a layer of security, wherein data is encrypted and can be accessed using an encryption key. However, encryption may be overcome, exposing sensitive data to unauthorized access.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional system 10 that uses data encryption for secure data storage. Each data channel is assigned to a specific writer/reader (W-R) combination in a transducer head. The data is encrypted and written to tape. Specifically, FIG. 1 shows 16 channels assigned to a 16 W-R combination head, such that channel 1 is fixed to W-R 1, channel 2 is fixed to W-R 2, etc. Specifically, channel 1 data is written by writer 1 and read back by reader 1, the channel 2 data is written by writer 2 and read back by reader 2, and so on. The channel 1 data is from reader 1 and the channel 2 data is from reader 2, and so on. The data read back is then decrypted using a decryption key. However, once the encryption key becomes compromised, the data security in such a tape system is compromised. As such, additional or other techniques for providing data security are desirable.